Changes

*''Chinese/Japanese'': 台湾 ''(Táiwān / Taiwan)''

*''Chinese/Japanese'': 台湾 ''(Táiwān / Taiwan)''

Taiwan is an island located off the east coast of China. Home to numerous [[Taiwanese aborigines|aboriginal groups]], Taiwan became a base of operations for [[wako|pirates and smugglers]] in the 15th-16th centuries, the Portuguese in the 16th century, and the [[Dutch East India Company]] and [[Ming loyalist]] rebels in the 17th century, before being conquered by the [[Qing Dynasty]] towards the end of that century. The island was annexed by Japan in [[1895]], and regained its independence in 1945. Since 1949 it has constituted the territory of the Republic of China.

Taiwan is an island located off the east coast of China. Home to numerous [[Taiwanese aborigines|aboriginal groups]], Taiwan became a base of operations for [[wako|pirates and smugglers]] and the Portuguese in the 16th century, and the [[Dutch East India Company]] and [[Ming loyalist]] rebels in the 17th century, before being conquered by the [[Qing Dynasty]] towards the end of that century. The island was annexed by Japan in [[1895]], and regained its independence in 1945. Since 1949 it has constituted the territory of the Republic of China.

==History==

==History==

===Medieval to 19th century===

===Medieval to 19th century===

(Wako)

Chinese began settling on Taiwan in the early [[Ming Dynasty]], if not earlier. These small communities consisted chiefly of merchant shippers and the like. In the 16th century, however, Ming policies banning Chinese from trading at Japanese or Southeast Asian ports made most of these previously above-board merchants and traders into illegal smugglers. Taiwan then thus became a haven of smugglers and pirates, along with sites in [[Kyushu]], the [[Philippines]], and elsewhere. These so-called ''[[wako|wakô]]'' ("Japanese brigands") were mostly Chinese, but included Japanese, Koreans, and Southeast Asians as well, and raided ships and ports all along the Chinese and Korean coasts.<ref name=arano>Arano Yasunori, "The Formation of a Japanocentric World Order," ''International Journal of Asian Studies'' 2:2 (2005), 189.</ref>

(Portuguese)

(Portuguese)

In the beginning years of the [[Edo period]], several ''[[daimyo|daimyô]]'' launched missions to attempt to establish trade relations with the island. These included a mission led by [[Arima Harunobu]] in [[1609]], and one led by the [[Omura clan|Ômura clan]] in [[1616]]. However, all were unsuccessful, in large part because the indigenous peoples had no unified, centralized, or complexly structured government with whom the samurai could negotiate; on some of these missions, the samurai were attacked by the aborigines and suffered casualties.

In the beginning years of the [[Edo period]], several ''[[daimyo|daimyô]]'' launched missions to attempt to establish trade relations with the island. These included a mission led by [[Arima Harunobu]] in [[1609]], and one led by the [[Omura clan|Ômura clan]] in [[1616]]. However, all were unsuccessful, in large part because the indigenous peoples had no unified, centralized, or complexly structured government with whom the samurai could negotiate; on some of these missions, the samurai were attacked by the aborigines and suffered casualties.

The Dutch established themselves on Taiwan in [[1624]], building the trading base of [[Fort Zeelandia]].

The Dutch established themselves on Taiwan beginning in [[1622]], and built the trading post of [[Fort Zeelandia]] in [[1624]] just outside of Anping Harbor ([[Tainan]]). The Dutch then came into conflict with Japanese merchants already established on the island, as the two groups competed for control of the island's ports. In [[1628]], trader [[Hamada Yahyoee]]<!--浜田弥兵衛-->, acting on orders from ''[[Nagasaki bugyo|Nagasaki bugyô]]'' [[Suetsugu Heizo|Suetsugu Heizô]], attacked the Dutch fort and captured the governor, [[Pieter Nuyts]], who had led an unsuccessful mission to Japan the previous year. Nuyts was released soon afterwards, but the Japanese took his son and four others captive, exchanging them later for Nuyts himself, who then remained a hostage in Japan for four years. Events like these produced great difficulties for both the Dutch and Japanese trading communities on Taiwan, but formal relations between the shogunate and VOC were restored in [[1632]]; tensions and conflicts between the Dutch and Japanese on the island dissipated further after the VOC gaining exclusive rights to trade at [[Nagasaki]], and after the Japanese were forbidden to go abroad (or to return to Japan) after [[1635]].<ref name=arano/>

(Ming loyalists)

The Dutch grew powerful on Taiwan, exporting for example as much as 1.85 million ''[[taels]]'' of [[silver]] (527,250 florins) from Japan via Taiwan in [[1639]] alone. One of the fort's chief individual trading partners was the smuggler/pirate/trader [[Zheng Zhilong]], who traded gold, silks, and other goods to the Dutch in exchange for Japanese silver, but also competed against them. Taiwan also became a major source of [[sugar]] in the region at this time.

Qing forces finally subdued the last of the Ming loyalists in [[1683]]-[[1684]], claiming the island for Chinese territory. Though Qing authority gradually spread across the island, as late as the 1870s, there were still significant areas where the aboriginal peoples were dominant and Qing officials had no effective power or control.

 

 

Qing forces finally subdued the last of the Ming loyalists in [[1683]]-[[1684]], claiming the island for Chinese territory for the first time in history. Though Qing authority gradually spread across the island, as late as the 1870s, there were still significant areas where the aboriginal peoples were dominant and Qing officials had no effective power or control.

In [[1871]], a number of [[Miyako Islands|Miyako Islanders]] became shipwrecked on Taiwan, where they encountered and were [[Taiwan Incident of 1871|killed]] by a group of Taiwanese aborigines. The [[Meiji government]] responded with [[Taiwan Expedition of 1874|a punitive military expedition]], led by [[Saigo Tsugumichi|Saigô Tsugumichi]] and launched to punish the aborigines for the murder of Japanese subjects. The fighting lasted less than two months. This invasion spurred considerable tensions, however, between Japan and China, with China rejecting Japan's claims that the Miyako Islanders were Japanese subjects, and asserting its own claims over Taiwan while denying responsibility for the aborigines' actions. Woodblock prints widely circulated in Japan depicting and describing the events of the expedition are considered the first ''[[shinbun nishiki-e]]'', or "news prints," informing the public of official contemporary events in a relatively timely and accurate manner. A treaty was signed in October of that year in which China admitted less than total sovereign control over certain areas of southern Taiwan (i.e. areas dominated by aboriginal groups), recognized the [[Ryukyuan people]]s as Japanese subjects, and agreed to pay an indemnity of 500,000 ''[[tael]]s'' to Japan. The tensions still simmered, however, and very nearly came to all-out war before the decade was up, in order to decide more definitively Chinese and Japanese claims to both Taiwan and the [[Ryukyu Islands|Ryûkyû Islands]]. The issue was complicated by advice from Westerners, [[Charles DeLong]] and [[Charles LeGendre]], who suggested to the Japanese that since the Chinese did not exert effective (''de facto'') control over those sections of Taiwan dominated by the aborigines, that territory was essentially ''terra nullius'', and if Japan were to occupy the territory, under Western/modern international law, it could be rightfully Japan's.  

In [[1871]], a number of [[Miyako Islands|Miyako Islanders]] became shipwrecked on Taiwan, where they encountered and were [[Taiwan Incident of 1871|killed]] by a group of Taiwanese aborigines. The [[Meiji government]] responded with [[Taiwan Expedition of 1874|a punitive military expedition]], led by [[Saigo Tsugumichi|Saigô Tsugumichi]] and launched to punish the aborigines for the murder of Japanese subjects. The fighting lasted less than two months. This invasion spurred considerable tensions, however, between Japan and China, with China rejecting Japan's claims that the Miyako Islanders were Japanese subjects, and asserting its own claims over Taiwan while denying responsibility for the aborigines' actions. Woodblock prints widely circulated in Japan depicting and describing the events of the expedition are considered the first ''[[shinbun nishiki-e]]'', or "news prints," informing the public of official contemporary events in a relatively timely and accurate manner. A treaty was signed in October of that year in which China admitted less than total sovereign control over certain areas of southern Taiwan (i.e. areas dominated by aboriginal groups), recognized the [[Ryukyuan people]]s as Japanese subjects, and agreed to pay an indemnity of 500,000 ''[[tael]]s'' to Japan. The tensions still simmered, however, and very nearly came to all-out war before the decade was up, in order to decide more definitively Chinese and Japanese claims to both Taiwan and the [[Ryukyu Islands|Ryûkyû Islands]]. The issue was complicated by advice from Westerners, [[Charles DeLong]] and [[Charles LeGendre]], who suggested to the Japanese that since the Chinese did not exert effective (''de facto'') control over those sections of Taiwan dominated by the aborigines, that territory was essentially ''terra nullius'', and if Japan were to occupy the territory, under Western/modern international law, it could be rightfully Japan's.  

The Japanese authorities in Taiwan were headed by a [[Governor-General of Taiwan|Governor-General]], with [[Kabayama Sukenori]] being the first to hold the post, assisted by a [[Chief of Home Affairs (Taiwan)|Chief of Home Affairs]].

The Japanese authorities in Taiwan were headed by a [[Governor-General of Taiwan|Governor-General]], with [[Kabayama Sukenori]] being the first to hold the post, assisted by a [[Chief of Home Affairs (Taiwan)|Chief of Home Affairs]].

===Republic of China===

===Republic of China===

==References==

==References==

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